Crystal Intelligence Agency
by Newgrean
Summary: In the days of the rebellion the Crystal Gems have a small number of gems tasked with infiltrating Homeworld's forces and retrieving sensitive intel. Follow the adventures of Facet 3 of this Crystal Intelligence Agency here! This story has already begun in comic form on my tumblr (Newgrean). The fic is on Ao3 as well!
1. 1-8

Hi there, I'm Newgrean, and I've already started this story in comic form on Tumblr. Comics are great, but very time consuming to make, and so in order to keep this story going, I will be posting some of the CIA entries in fanfiction form here, on Tumblr, and on Ao3.

To see the first entry of CIA, visit my tumblr blog (Newgrean). You'll find a link to the Ao3 posting of this fic there as well!

* * *

"So you made these?" Opal said, peering curiously at the long strands of plant fibers twisted together.

"Absolutely!" Pyrite replied, admiring her work. "They are essentially the same as the cables back on Homeworld, but can be fabricated without the assistance of _any_ machinery!"

"That's super cool, Pyrite," Blue said, leaning in, an earnest smile on her lips.

"Yeah, we use those a lot around the base, but we can talk about that later," Dravite interjected. "For now, I want to make sure you two are up to speed on what we do here. How much did Aragonite already tell you?"

Blue thought back to the amber gem's silence as they had traveled through the warp pads to arrive in this underground cavern. "She didn't say a whole lot. She really insisted on us, well, me at least, keeping quiet about everything we were doing." Once Blue and Aragonite had gotten away from the headquarters, the stoic gem had hardly spoken.

Opal added, "Yeah, it was mostly the same for me. What _do_ you all do here?"

Dravite nodded, "Good, Aragonite is smart, she wasn't keeping you in the dark for no reason. If any Homeworld gems had followed you here, things would've gotten pretty tricky." Her eyes glanced up to the corner of the cavern, where several brown and gold bubbles floated. Silhouettes of gemstones hung in the center of each one. Dravite quickly turned her attention back to the two new recruits.

"As you two know, the Crystal Gems are really starting to grow. We're starting to push back Homeworld's forces and make Earth a place where gems can live without having to worry about what they are _supposed _to be, instead making it a place where they can be who they _want _to be." Pyrite broke into a wide smile as Dravite continued.

"But in order for us to hold off Homeworld, we need more than just numbers."

Blue's brow furrowed, and she glanced at Opal, whose face remained neutral, "What else do we need?"

"We need intelligence," Pyrite said, stepping forward. Opal nodded. "That is to say, we need all the information we can gather about our enemies and their plans in this conflict."

Dravite nodded as well, "Exactly. There is no reason to deny it: Homeworld's forces are more skilled than we are. Yeah, we have passion, and we have something to fight for, but most of Homeworld's elite warriors and strategists aren't the ones defecting to our side."

"Why not?" asked Blue.

Opal took this moment to cut in, "They don't need Earth. Most members of the Crystal Gems are gems who feel like they've been pushed aside by Homeworld. The best of Homeworld's forces, though, they're the ones who are getting praise and recognition. They are the ones who are actually doing what they're made to do."

"...Oh, right," Blue replied.

Dravite spoke, "That's right, Opal. But none of that's stopped us yet. That's the whole point of this rebellion, to fight back with whatever we can. And that's what we're doing in the realm of intelligence-gathering as well."

She continued, "Back near the beginning of the war, Rose Quartz started setting up the Crystal Intelligence Agency. It was a small group of gems who specialized in covert missions to gather intel about what Homeworld was planning. The organization helps keep us, if not one step ahead of, then at least one step beside Homeworld's strategists. The organization grew as the rebellion did, and we are the third facet of the Crystal Intelligence Agency-"

"Abbreviated to C.I.A., if you will," Pyrite added.

"Right, C.I.A." Dravite corrected herself.

"What do the first and second facets do?" Opal asked.

"Well…" Dravite started, sharing a look with Pyrite.

Pyrite spoke, "Well, the lower the facet number, the more difficult the missions. Understandably, facet two handles assignments that Rose Quartz feels we are not best suited to." At the mention of facet two, Dravite eyes seemed to harden, though she kept her gaze on Pyrite.

"Facet one, well, I must admit that I have never met a member of facet one. But we can logically assume that they facilitate the most high-stealth, high-risk operations. Some C.I.A. members are of the belief that being unaware of the identities of facet one's members is a benefit to us. For if we were to be captured by Homeworld, they would have no way to pry that intelligence from our lips," Pyrite explained, her smile a bit reduced by the grimness of her words.

Blue's eyes widened. Dravite took notice of her uneasiness, "Look," she said, her tone gentle, "This isn't going to be an easy job. But honestly? There aren't any easy jobs in this fight. Someone higher up than us decided that you two were cut out for this." She crossed her arms and the corner of her mouth turned up, "And honestly, if Aragonite had seen something to make her really worry about you two being here, she would have warped you right back to headquarters and had someone reassign you."

"Very true! Aragonite does what she wants," Pyrite laughed. Opal smiled, and Blue's fearful features softened a little.

"Okay, let's show you around the base a little bit," Dravite said.

Blue had been pretty impressed with the base when she first arrived. It wasn't everyday that she fell fifty feet down a hidden tube in the middle of an organic biome on an unfamiliar planet. Seeing a beautiful, hewn, almost primitive cavern at its base had only added to her surprise. Back on Homeworld, everything was geometric. Buildings, floors, walls, and every other structure was made of intricately faceted, cold metal. If there were curves, they served a design purpose and were made with obvious mathematical intent. Blue would know best, she was a low-level architect back on Homeworld. Maybe architect wasn't the right word. She, along with all the other turquoises back home, were made to ornament gem structures with faceted sculptures and designs that conformed to the standards of design perfection.

But down here, in this rebel base, everything was almost sloppy. The walls were curved and rough, as if they had been dug out in a hurry. The technology looked like it had been cobbled together from pieces of destroyed Homeworld ships. The grain of the Earth's natural minerals formed an unorganized, but strangely beautiful pattern on the uneven surface of the wall. Much like the rest of Earth, this room could only be described as organic.

"Hey Blue," came Opal's voice.

Blue snapped out of her transfixion with the room, "Hm? Sorry, yeah, I'm coming," she said, hurrying to the large circle which covered a fourth of the room by the row of doors, one of which the other Turquoise had come out of earlier. The circle of metal was surrounded by dashed warning lines, and had four seams which split it into four equal slices with a small diamond in the middle covering each slice's point. The image of a rose, the Crystal Gems' symbol, was painted over this diamond.

"This is the entrance to our training room," explained Dravite. "You two are going to spend a lot of time here sparring with Pyrite."

"Indeed. It is a bit of a trick to open, though. Allow me to demonstrate," Pyrite explained. She walked to the rose symbol in the middle of the wide disc and bent down. "I believe this used to be an upright door, but we repurposed it, just as we did most of our technology down here. You simply use your gem to-" as her hand spread over the rose, the metallic stone on her temple glowed a bright yellow. The diamond plate under the rose shone as well and the four sections of the door slid quickly open underneath the other three gems' feet. Pyrite and Dravite dropped to the floor of the spacious rectangular room below gracefully, but Opal and Blue were caught unaware and crashed haphazardly onto the stone.

"Ah," Pyrite laughed, "Yes. That is the trick. My apologies."

"It's fine," Blue said as she and Opal picked themselves up. They took stock of the room around them. It was also hewn from the earth with large, rough slopes. The training area extended to be about half the size of the upper room, and had a small door on one of the narrower walls. The wall was already rather rough, but seemed to have many additional chunks and slashes carved out of it, most likely from earlier training sessions.

"Is it safe for me to assume that neither of you had much combat experience before you joined the Crystal Gems?" Pyrite asked.

"Yeah, that first day that we joined was the only time I had ever done any real fighting," Opal replied. Blue nodded in agreement.

"Ah, I will have to hear more about that later," Pyrite answered, a twinkle in her eye. "Well, do not fear! I myself knew little to nothing of combat until I joined the rebellion, but after training with my mentor, I am proud to say that though I do not have the strength of a Homeworld soldier, few quartzes can outmaneuver me!"

"It's true," Dravite smiled, "But you do have a pretty big advantage-"

"Ah, more on that later!" Pyrite interrupted. "Now, Opal, Blue, would you be so kind as to show me what you wield on the battlefield?"

"Okay, sure," Opal said. She thrust her chest forward as the fiery, violet jewel on her sternum shone. A large, bearded axe with a sturdy, curved handle leapt from her gem and into her hands. As its glow faded, the violet and peach coloring on its grip and blade appeared. She gave it a swing before saying, "Yeah, I guess it's not a typical 'spy' weapon, but I like it."

"Excellent!" Pyrite exclaimed, "Every good team needs a heavy hitter, and this axe looks like it will help you be ours!" She turned to Blue, "And what do you have for us?"

"Well…" Blue reached up to her cheek where her teal gemstone rested. It glowed brightly and she pulled a long, slender handle from it. As it flashed into existence, the other gems saw that she held a long bo staff. Both ends of the staff were thicker than the middle and were each capped with a circular cabochon version of her gemstone.

"Very nice" Pyrite said, a grin on her face. "This will be exciting! I have mostly been training against Dravite for the past long while. It will be good to fight against some more long-range melee weapons."

"Oh, what do you use, Dravite? If you don't mind me asking?" Blue said, looking quizzically toward the second-in-command.

"No, I don't mind," Dravite said. She pushed back her jacket on her left side, revealing a brown and amber gem on her waist. It flashed as she pulled a small, faceted knife from it that was no longer than her hand. "I use throwing knives which aren't always a great matchup against Pyrite's swords."

Opal glanced at the solitary, long cutlass at Pyrite's side, "Swords?"

Pyrite wiggled her eyebrows and reached towards the gem on her left temple with her right hand and towards the cutlass on her hip with her left. From her shining gemstone she pulled a long, slender blade with a domed, ornate guard. "I use a rapier _and_ a cutlass!"

"Uh…" Opal glanced at Blue in confusion, "Isn't it hard to fight with two different types of swords?"

"Oh, well, at first it was fairly difficult, but I got the hang of it after a while," Pyrite answered, looking down at her two blades and smiling almost in embarrassment.

Behind her Dravite mouthed, "_It's so hard."_

"But enough of that, let us go up one more time," Pyrite said, sheathing her cutlass and letting her rapier dissolve into sparks.

"So this is, well, Turquoise's control area, but we all use it for different things," Dravite explained as she led the gems away from the training room's door to a corner of the cavern that was lined with computing devices and quietly humming screens. The computers looked to be from a mix of different gem cruisers and dropships. In the upper corner where two walls and the ceiling met rested a very large monitor, but for the moment it was dark.

"Yes, I doubt either of you will need to operate this kind of equipment while you are with us, that is more in Turquoise's realm. In any case, she may be perturbed if you meddle with it as I believe she has most of it calibrated just like she likes it," Pyrite said, running her hand over one of the monitors.

Opal leaned over one of the many keyboards, "What exactly does Turquoise do here?"

"Well… So here's the deal," Dravite leaned against on of the consoles, "Turquoise doesn't actually come with us on our missions. She stays here and watches us. She says that as the one who's in command, she needs to make sure that we are seeing our objectives from every angle." One of Dravite's eyebrows twitched slightly as she said this, and Pyrite gave her a look that Blue and Opal couldn't quite decipher.

"That is correct," Pyrite said. "She uses these little robonoids to keep her eye on everything in the field." As she spoke, Pyrite picked a wedge-shaped device from one of the counters. It was about as thick as her forearm and almost as long. It had three spindly legs which ended in wide, circular feet, and its square face had a dark, glass diamond in its center. As Pyrite moved it, the glass diamond blinked red, and its legs flailed for a moment before grabbing onto Pyrite's arm.

"Aww," Blue leaned in. "I love it."

"Is that just a Homeworld surveillance robonoid with a Crystal Gem insignia on it?" Opal asked, moving to poke its eye.

"Indeed it is. Turquoise reprogrammed this one and a few others to follow us on our missions. Their cameras are connected to our screens here." With that, the large monitor in the corner of the cavern flickered to life and a crackling image of Opal and Blue appeared on the screen.

"These little ladies are pretty useful, I have to say," Dravite added, gathering the robonoid into her arms. "We'll have to show you them another time though. Right now I want to show you your rooms." She switched the robonoid off and laid it on the counter again, the red light of its eye fading back to sleep.

Opal and Blue followed Dravite and Pyrite as they returned to the training room's large door. On the two walls surrounding the circular door, Opal and Blue noticed three doors they hadn't seen before. As they looked up, they saw a metal platform affixed higher on the wall which led to three more doors of the same size. Each door had a pointed arch at the top and a white star in the center. One of the ground-level doors had an opaque, greenish-blue, circular gem in the center of its star.

"This is Turquoise's room. You two probably should steer clear of it, she really likes her privacy," explained Dravite.

"But these two are yours," Opal and Blue turned to face the two doors with empty stars as they heard Pyrite's voice.

"Just put your hand right there, and it'll recognize you as its owner," Dravite said, pointing to the blank white stars on the doors which stood before the new recruits.

As they tentatively placed their hands on the stars, both Opal's and Blue's gems began to glow. The stars hummed against their palms for a moment, and when they pulled their hands back, they saw flat versions of their gems etched into the middle of their stars. The etched gems remained only for a moment though. Soon glowing lines spread across each door, splitting them into pieces which then withdrew into the doorframe and allowed Opal and Blue to see into the space beyond.

"Come on," Dravite said, smiling at both of them, "We'll show you what to do."

* * *

Thanks for reading! Every now and then I will be making a C.I.A. entry in fanfiction form like I did this one. To see the entries which are made in comic form, search Crystal Intelligence Agency 1.1 on my tumblr blog (Newgrean). You'll find a link to the Ao3 posting of this fic there as well!


	2. 2-1 Small Talk

Pyrite looked up towards the Earth's blazing star shielding her eyes with one hand and lifting a long antennae with the other. The antennae was built from scavenged parts she and Dravite had found in the wreckage of a downed Homeworld dropship about a sixth of a revolution ago. The two gems had come across the pieces of a couple wailing stones in one of the ship's hallways. They had been able to attach the receiving ring of each stone to a metal pole and connected a speaker disc at the bottom with a wire. That was what Pyrite now held in her hand, waving it overhead as she searched for a signal.

She and Blue were trekking across an island far from their home base. Turquoise had called the gems together right after Pyrite and Dravite had finished showing Opal and Blue around their rooms. She had explained that she would be sending the four gems out to an archipelago in groups of two in order to intercept a signal she believed would be transmitting through the area. She hadn't given the gems any more information before sending them off to their assignments.

Pyrite enjoyed these missions, though she had to admit they were rather boring compared to some of the combat she had engaged in in other missions. It was a good mission to start Blue and Opal out on, though. She turned to face her teammate. "How are you doing, Blue?"

"Uh… Good, yeah, I'm fine," Blue replied, pushing a branch out of her path.

"Excellent!" Pyrite replied, grinning. She looked ahead at a steep hill which rose through a cleft in the leafy canopy above. "I believe we have almost arrived at the coordinates Turquoise designated for us. Follow me!" With that, Pyrite leapt into the air through the opening in the trees, brandishing the antennae like a sword before her. Blue followed, stumbling a little as she took off from the ground.

The two gems arrived at the top of the shaded hill where Pyrite wedged the antennae into the crook of a tree branch. She took a seat at the base of the tree and patted the soil beside her, indicating that Blue could sit beside her.

"Now we simply await the arrival of a signal," Pyrite explained, crossing her legs.

"Sounds great," Blue replied absently, her brow slightly furrowed.

Pyrite tilted her head. Something important seemed to be occupying Blue's mind. Pyrite had never thought herself especially adept at engaging in discussions regarding emotions, though. Perhaps she would leave the subject alone.

"So… Quite a beautiful day, would you agree?" she offered, looking up at the clear sky.

Blue glanced up. "Oh, yeah!" She offered a smile. "It's- Earth is such a beautiful planet."

"Indeed it is! It has such a stunning variety of life!" Pyrite replied.

"Yeah," Blue said. Her smile soon faded, though, and Pyrite was at a loss. Several moments passed, quiet except for the melodies of the birds all around. Clouds slid slowly through the sky, and the quiet breeze rustled in the boughs of the trees. Blue still did not speak, though, and if Pyrite was correct, she seemed to be growing only more befuddled by whatever was plaguing her mind. It was not her strong suit, but perhaps Pyrite should try to unearth the problem buried in Blue's uncertain gaze. She leaned forward tentatively.

"Blue." The gem looked up. "Something seems to be the matter. What is bothering you?" Hopefully that had not been too up front.

But to her relief, Blue replied right away, "Uh, yeah, you're right, something is bothering me. I was thinking back to the cubbies you showed us at the base, and I'm just really confused about them."

"The cubbies? Oh! Of course, your rooms. Yes, what is the problem?" Pyrite replied, glad Blue had opened up a little to her. And glad to hear the problem was not so serious as she had feared.

"Well I'm just unsure of what the room is supposed to be used for. When am I supposed to go in there? Is it for storage? Is there a function I'm supposed to perform in it? I just- I want to make sure I use it the right way, but I'm not sure what that way is, you know?"

"Aha," Pyrite leaned back. The issue seemed fairly simple indeed, "Your room-"

"Pyrite, Blue, quiet down!" a voice crackled loudly over the communicators in their ears, "Do I need to remind you that you are in enemy territory right now? You are only to speak if what you have to say is crucial to the mission." It was Turquoise's voice transmitting from the base, where she was monitoring mission remotely.

"Oh, right, I apologize, Turquoise. We will quiet down." Pyrite's finger went instinctually up to her ear at the sudden reprimand. This had not been the first time she had had to be reminded to lower her volume in the field. She was a member of the CIA, but perhaps her covert skills still needed work. Pyrite gave Blue an apologetic look.

Huh, I wonder what that was about? thought Dravite as she settled into the crook of a tree limb. She had only been half listening to Pyrite and Blue's conversation while she'd been calibrating her own antenna on an island a few miles away from her teammates.

Opal sat a few branches away from Dravite. She had seemed interested and willing to learn about the ramshackle wailing stone setup they had to work with. Dravite wished she could take credit for the contraption, but that had been Turquoise's handiwork; the green gem was behind most of Facet 3's technological tools. Dravite wasn't sure where she got her technological prowess from. Maybe if the gem would talk about something other than the next big mission for once…

"...A forge? No...a…a workshop?" Opal's muttering pulled Dravite back to the present. Opal seemed to be deep in thought, her unfocused gaze flitting around the leafy canopy above her and her finger trailing through the air as if she were writing.

"Opal?" Dravite said, wincing as she remembered Turquoise's warning about off-mission chatter. She whispered, "Opal?"

It was Opal's turn to be pulled to the present, "Yeah?" Her finger hovered in midair.

"Who are you talking to?" Dravite grinned.

"Oh, just, I was just thinking, sorry," Opal answered, turning her gaze back to the softly stirring leaves above.

"Oh, no worries," Dravite replied, leaning back against the trunk of the tree, "What were you thinking about?"

Opal pushed her hair behind one ear. "Sorry, I should have been thinking about the mission, I'll focus." She didn't meet Dravite's eyes.

"No, hey, that's not what I meant. You don't always have to have your mind on the mission. I always let my mind wander, especially when we're just waiting around like this," Dravite leaned forward. "So… What were you thinking about?"

"Well…" Opal started, a little hesitant, "I was trying to figure out the best thing to do with that room you showed us back at the base."

"Oh, gotcha," Dravite replied. It made sense, they had been interrupted by Turquoise's briefing right in the middle of their room tour. She leaned back into the crook of the branches, "What do you think you'll put in there?"

"That's the problem. I'm confused about what it's supposed to be used for," Opal replied.

"Well, it's supposed to be used for you to, just sort of, spend time in," Dravite explained.

"...Doing what?" Opal asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Your thing," Dravite grinned.

Opal's frustration and her eyebrow rose.

Dravite's smile grew. She remembered when she first joined the Crystal Gems and got her room. It had been a little confusing then, too. She spoke, "Okay, I'm sorry. So your room is supposed to be a place where-" A familiar crackled filled Dravite's ear, cutting her off.

"Dravite, Opal, please respect what we're doing here and quiet down," Turquoise's voice snapped from the gems' communicators. The brown gem pursed her lips.

"Sorry Turquoise," she sat back, grimacing at Opal, who returned her gaze back to the treetops. This conversation would have to continue later.

As Pyrite listened to Turquoise and Dravite over the earpiece, she could picture Dravite's frustrated expression at being reprimanded by their commander. The two gems often butted heads. Maybe having Opal and Blue on the team would assuage the tension.

At the thought of the new recruits, Pyrite glanced back at her blue-green teammate. Blue still looked very concerned. That was curious. Her simple question required a simple answer. Perhaps something else was the matter?

I just- I want to make sure I use it the right way, but I'm not sure what that way is, you know? Blue's words echoed in Pyrite's mind.

Perhaps this question goes deeper than a simple concern of functionality, Pyrite thought. Of course! The realization struck Pyrite. This must be the first time she has had a space all to herself before. She does not understand what it is for, and so she is… afraid.

Pyrite had felt that fear before. Every gem had, the fear of slipping up and facing the punishment of your superiors. It had been a long while since Pyrite had been around brand new recruits like Blue. She had forgotten how new and terrifying life was for them. Striking back against your overlords, joining the Crystal Gems, those were actions punishable by imprisonment at best and at worst… Pyrite felt an ache as she thought back to some of her friends who had met that worse fate at the merciless hands of Homeworld.

She looked back to Blue, hunched over on the ground, staring down at her hands, and a familiar feeling slowly began to bristle in her. How long had Blue been afraid like this? How painful must it have been for her to fight back against Homeworld. How dare they make her feel this way?

How could she have forgotten what it was like to experience those fears herself?

"I'm sorry," Pyrite whispered, leaning over to Blue.

"What?" Blue whispered back, surprised.

"I'm sorry. I failed to explain the purpose of your room earlier."

"Oh, no, that's fine."

"No," Pyrite leaned closer, "No, I should have remembered- I should have known how new all of this is to you." Pyrite looked into Blue's eyes, "The room we have given to you is for you to do whatever you wish with. It does not need to serve a certain function, and you do not have to leave it unless we need you for a mission. That space is for you to rest in and make your own. It is simply a gift."

Turquoise was silent for a moment.

"Thank you, Pyrite," she whispered.

"Absolutely." Pyrite smiled, leaning back against the thick bark of the tree.

Come on Turquoise, were you even listening? thought Dravite as she stared at the antennae in her hand. Turquoise had heard enough of their talking to have picked up on what Opal was asking about, and it wasn't exactly like this remote island was filled to the brim with Quartz soldiers. As far as Dravite could see, she and Opal were the only two gems on the island. Why couldn't she have let them finish their conversation?

Opal needs this, she thought, This might be the first time she's been given a gift like this, or maybe a gift at all. It'll take literally a minute to explain this. Here, just-

Dravite reached up to her ear and deftly removed her communicator. She tapped Opal on the shoulder and held up her liberated earpiece to show it to the violet gem. Opal furrowed her brow in confusion at the sight of the communicator. Dravite pointed to Opal's ear, hoping she'd get the hint to take it out. Slowly, still confused, Opal removed her communicator and put it in Dravite's outstretched palm. Dravite took the two earpieces and placed them under a pile of leaves and brush.

"Okay," she whispered, "Sorry, I just didn't want Turquoise to interrupt us again."

"But shouldn't we be listening to her in case a signal comes through?" Opal asked.

"We will, I just wanted to answer your question."

"Oh, it's not that important, we can-" Opal started to reach for the communicators, but Dravite stopped her.

"No, it is important. You're new to this, and so I get where you're coming from about what your room is supposed to be used for. But the thing that I really need you to know is that that space is just for you to just... be in."

Opal seemed more confused than before.

Dravite tried again, "What I mean is, you get to use that room for whatever you want. If you use it to relax, that's great. If you want it to be a workshop, that's fine. It's a gift. It's your choice."

Opal was silent for a moment. Wind rustled through the grass at her feet. "Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, really," Dravite replied.

"Huh," Opal leaned back against the trunk of the tree. "Maybe I could… What was that?" She tilted her head.

"What- What was what?" Dravite's eyes darted around the trees.

"That sound," Opal cupped a hand to her ear.

An intermittent buzzing slowly filled the air. Dravite kept scanning the area, but saw only trees. Then she remembered.

"Dravite! Dravite come in! Do you read me?" Turquoise's voice rang from the communicator as she snatched it up and jammed it back in her ear.

"Yes! Yeah, sorry! I read you! What's up?"

"We've got it," Turquoise said. "We've got a signal."


End file.
